Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-20

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below gives information about the number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Number of jobs in four sectors of the economy in the US, 1960-2020

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The line graph represents the number of jobs, in millions, in four different sectors such as, manufacturing, retail, agriculture and healthcare in the US between 1960 and 2020.

Overall, the highest number of jobs was represented by healthcare and retail sectors in the US economy. The least number of jobs was experienced by the agriculture sector. Similarly manufacturing sector also experienced a decline in the number of jobs.

From 1960 to 2020 the healthcare sector experienced a noticeable rise in the number of jobs from 2 million to 16 million. Similarly, retail sector also showed the relatively similar trend with the number of jobs increasing from 6 million to 16 million.

While, manufacturing sector experienced a declined slightly from 15 million to 13 million in number of jobs over the period. Agriculture showed the least number of jobs from 6 million to 3 million respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the graph’s subject and give a broad overview, noting healthcare and retail as the leading sectors by the end and agriculture as the smallest. You also report several key start-to-end figures accurately, including healthcare rising from 2 to 16 million and manufacturing falling from 15 to 13 million. However, the overview is not fully precise: healthcare and retail were not the highest throughout the period, and manufacturing peaked at 20 million in 1980 before declining. Agriculture fell to about 2 million by 2020, rather than ending at 3 million. The response also contains 145 words, below the required 150. Add the missing intermediate trends and a more accurate overview to cover the data more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing sector trends. This makes the main information easy to locate, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Similarly,” and “While” help signal relationships. However, the progression is somewhat mechanical, with “Similarly” repeated and the final paragraph grouping manufacturing and agriculture without clearly comparing their different patterns. The sentence beginning “While” is also left as a fragment, which interrupts the flow. Organise the details by contrasting rising sectors with declining ones, and use more varied, precise links to show how the figures change over time.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a line graph, including “number of jobs,” “rise,” “increasing,” and “decline,” and the meaning is generally clear. There is some range in the way you describe trends, but several phrases are awkward or imprecise, such as “the highest number of jobs was represented by” and “the least number of jobs was experienced by.” “Relatively similar trend” is also vague, while “declined slightly” does not accurately convey the manufacturing sector’s rise to a peak before its later fall. Choose more natural collocations and precise trend language, such as “employment stood at,” “recorded the fewest jobs,” and “peaked before falling.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple statements and more complex forms, including the time phrase “From 1960 to 2020” and a contrast introduced by “While.” Most of the message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors are noticeable. The phrase “such as, manufacturing” has incorrect punctuation, and “While, manufacturing sector experienced a declined slightly” contains problems with punctuation, the article, and the verb phrase. The final sentence also uses “respectively” without a clear pair of corresponding figures. Aim to produce complete sentences and check articles and verb forms—for example, “The manufacturing sector declined slightly” or, more accurately, “Manufacturing peaked in 1980 before falling.”

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.